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Surprised flickered over his face. “Not even your brothers?”
“No.”
“Understood. You need anything else?”
“Some blood-wine for the lady.”
“Be right back.” Xavier returned in thirty seconds with a stemless glass of merlot.
I cupped the back of Ridley’s head. Her gray eyes were clouded with pain.
My mouth flattened. Fuck, I hated seeing her hurting like this. She was such a badass, and I loved that about her—but she shouldn’t have to be a badass. She should be able to live a normal life with a job that didn’t mean risking her life on a daily basis.
“Drink.” I brought the glass to her lips. She took a small sip. I kept the glass against her mouth. “More.”
She took another tiny drink, then turned her head. “Done.”
“One more sip.” I used my sickroom voice, soft but firm.
She wrinkled her nose at me but obeyed.
“Good girl.” I finished the wine and put it on the nightstand.
To Xavier, I said, “I’m going to roll her onto her side and clean as much of the silver out as I can. You catch the overflow with the towels.”
“Got it.” He picked up the towels and moved to my other side so he could reach her more easily.
I turned back to Ridley. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
She tried to turn onto her right side herself. I guided her the rest of the way over, packed some of the towels around her and pulled on the surgical gloves.
“This is going to hurt,” I warned as I filled the meat baster/syringe with the warm salt-water solution.
She nodded. Her fretfulness had vanished, replaced by a grim determination.
I pulled the wound a little apart with my gloved fingers. She tensed but didn’t make a sound.
I winced along with her. “Relax, sweetheart.” I kept my tone low and easy. “Breathe in. Breathe out.”
She nodded and I felt her muscles loosen.
I made a small, approving sound. “Perfect. Just like that.”
I squirted the saltwater solution into the wound multiple times while Xavier sopped up the blood and pus that ran out of it. Ridley remained outwardly relaxed, her breath loud but even, for the entire procedure.
Hell, I was more tense than her. I knew it had to hurt like a mofo.
At last I finished. The blood ran clear, and the wound had started to close up.
I sat back and released a long exhale like a tire leaking air—which was pretty much how I felt.
Xavier patted Ridley’s side dry. “Nice work,” he told me. “I think you got all the silver.”
“I hope so.” I ripped open a gauze packet and bandaged the wound, then stripped off my gloves and dropped them on top of the dirty towels.
“Almost done,” I told Ridley. “Now I’m just going to clean you up.”
Xavier handed me a damp washcloth, and I cleaned the blood and sweat from her face and body. “There you go. All done.” I tucked a lock of white-gold hair behind her ear.
